Chicago's Finest

This afternoon, along Michigan Ave., I spotted a couple police officers parking their bikes and I started foaming at the mouth. They were both riding Trek's with the coolest headlights and horns I've seen on a bike. It's a little hard to see but the horn is just below the super bright lights. The horn looked similar to the horn at loudbicycle.com. That horn/siren sounded just like a cruiser's. I'd like to get a look at the civilian version of that set up. The horn alone might be one way to deal with the dooring problem.

If there's a 12V power supply in the trunk bag somewhere (and the flashers suggest that there is), there's little reason you can't run a conventional siren, controller and speaker. In this case it would sound just like a patrol car's siren because it is like a patrol car's siren.

Yeah, I think you're probably right. The handlebars looked almost like a console with all the controls he had on it. It's gotta be a pretty weighty set up, I'm guessing. It was so loud, when the officer demonstrated it for me, that a 4 wheeled cruised pulled up a few minutes later to investigate. I feel lucky that I wasn't cited for anything.

David P. said:

If there's a 12V power supply in the trunk bag somewhere (and the flashers suggest that there is), there's little reason you can't run a conventional siren, controller and speaker. In this case it would sound just like a patrol car's siren because it is like a patrol car's siren.

Cops on bikes are all about stealth, not speed, so they can have heavy gear to carry like this. I don't like these lights--would blind oncoming drivers--but the siren is cool. I also love it when cops don't lock their bikes when they go into Starbucks or some other caffeine-fueling station. Very confident in their fellow citizens.

Heh, that thought crossed my mind too, at the time. One of the officers stayed with the bikes while the other went into Water Tower Place. The bikes also had very interesting seats, unlike anything I'd seen before, rounded, not tapered like a normal bike seat. I really don't know but those headlights might have adjustable beams, they certainly looked very high tech. But now that I think about it, I'm a little surprised they weren't fitted with fenders with all that expensive gear on board.

I remember last summer I was riding along the LFP when 4 police officers on bikes whizzed by in the opposite direction, obviously responding to a call. As they passed, I yelled, "can't you guys at least make a siren sound?" I think the trailing officer smiled at me. I'm glad they took my suggestion to heart.

Bill Savage said:

Cops on bikes are all about stealth, not speed, so they can have heavy gear to carry like this. I don't like these lights--would blind oncoming drivers--but the siren is cool. I also love it when cops don't lock their bikes when they go into Starbucks or some other caffeine-fueling station. Very confident in their fellow citizens.